ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission completes 1000 Earth Days in Orbit

ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) completes 1000 earth days in orbit. The orbiter has outlived its lifespan which is more than 5 times the number of days the orbiter was designated to last in orbit.
The MOM has at present completed 388 orbits of Mars and has sent 715 images back to earth. According to the scientists, the MOM is in good health and shows no signs of slowing down.
India has plans to send Mangalyaan 2.0 and a new mission to Venus after 2020.

MOM

The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) was launched into space on November 5, 2013, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre using a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket C25.The MOM entered into the orbit of Mars on September 2014. The Mangalyaan was built in a fraction of the cost of similar space missions launched by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). It was indigenously designed, built and launched by ISRO in a record period of fewer than two years in 450 crore rupees (73 million US dollars) budget which is considered as cheapest inter-planetary mission till date to reach Mars.
The spacecraft has five instruments mounted on it for collecting scientific data of Mar’s morphology, atmospheric processes, surface temperature, surface geology and atmospheric escape process. These five instruments are Lyman-Alpha Photometer (LAP), Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM), Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA), Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS) and Mars Colour Camera (MCC)In September 2014, India created a space history by becoming
In September 2014, India created a space history by becoming the first nation in the world to successfully launch an interplanetary mission to Mars in a maiden attempt. ISRO also become first Asian and fourth space agency in the world to reach Mars orbit after the Roscosmos of Russia, NASA and European Space Agency.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2017